Despite extensive pathogen-specific testing of many specimens since 2014, CDC and others have not identified an etiology for the AFM cases. Therefore, CDC will no longer perform clinical diagnostics for enteroviruses or metagenomic sequencing on specimens collected from suspect cases of AFM.

Exposure to viral hepatitis has long been recognized as an occupational risk for healthcare personnel, with recommendations previously established for the management of occupational exposures to hepatitis C virus (HCV). This notice, which is based on current laboratory guidance, updates the 2001 HCV testing algorithm for healthcare personnel.

Exposure to viral hepatitis has long been recognized as an occupational risk for healthcare personnel, with recommendations previously established for the management of occupational exposures to hepatitis C virus (HCV).

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is advising hospitals to notify patients who underwent open-heart (open-chest) surgery involving a Stöckert 3T heater-cooler that the device was potentially contaminated, possibly putting patients at risk for a life threatening infection.

On May 8, 2018, the Ministry of Public Health (MoHP) of Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) declared an outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Bikoro Health Zone, Equateur Province, in Northwest DRC.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is providing: 1) a notice about increased influenza A(H3N2) activity and its clinical implications; 2) a summary of influenza antiviral drug treatment recommendations; 3) an update about approved treatment drugs and supply this season; and 4) background information for patients about influenza treatment.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is providing: 1) a notice about increased influenza A(H3N2) activity and its clinical implications; 2) a summary of influenza antiviral drug treatment recommendations; 3) an update about approved treatment drugs and supply this season; and 4) background information for patients about influenza treatment.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning people in the states of Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island, who might have consumed contaminated raw milk and milk products to visit their doctor.

CDC and public health officials in several states have identified a multistate outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium infections linked to various clinical, commercial, and college and university teaching microbiology laboratories.

Several state and local health departments are investigating recent cases of nontuberculous mycobacteria surgical site infections (e.g., Mycobacterium abscessus, Mycobacterium massiliense) associated with cosmetic surgery received in the Dominican Republic.

May 10, 2016 - CDC updated its interim diagnostic testing guidance for Zika virus in public health laboratories based on preliminary data demonstrating that Zika virus can be found at higher levels or for longer duration in urine than in serum (blood)

April 1, 2016 - Today, more than 300 local, state, and federal government officials; health experts; and non-government partners are gathering at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to prepare for the likelihood of mosquito-borne transmission of the Zika virus in some parts of the continental United States.

March 22, 2016 - Zika virus transmission was detected in the Region of the Americas (Americas) in Brazil in May 2015, and as of March 21, 2016, local mosquito-borne transmission of Zika virus had been reported in 32 countries and territories in the Americas, including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Update: Interim Guidance for the Evaluation and Management of Infants with Possible Congenital Zika Virus Infection — United States, August 2016
August 19, 2016
CDC has updated its interim guidance for U.S. health care providers caring for infants born to mothers with possible Zika virus infection during pregnancy (1). Laboratory testing is recommended for 1) infants born to mothers with laboratory evidence of Zika virus infection during pregnancy and 2) infants who have abnormal clinical or neuroimaging findings suggestive of congenital Zika syndrome and a maternal epidemiologic link suggesting possible transmission, regardless of maternal Zika virus test results. Congenital Zika syndrome is a recently recognized pattern of congenital anomalies associated with Zika virus infection during pregnancy that includes microcephaly, intracranial calcifications or other brain anomalies, or eye anomalies, among others (2). Recommended infant laboratory evaluation includes both molecular (real-time reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction [rRT-PCR]) and serologic (immunoglobulin M [IgM]) testing. Initial samples should be collected directly from the infant in the first 2 days of life, if possible; testing of cord blood is not recommended. A positive infant serum or urine rRT-PCR test result confirms congenital Zika virus infection. Positive Zika virus IgM testing, with a negative rRT-PCR result, indicates probable congenital Zika virus infection. In addition to infant Zika virus testing, initial evaluation of all infants born to mothers with laboratory evidence of Zika virus infection during pregnancy should include a comprehensive physical examination, including a neurologic examination, postnatal head ultrasound, and standard newborn hearing screen. Infants with laboratory evidence of congenital Zika virus infection should have a comprehensive ophthalmologic exam and hearing assessment by auditory brainstem response (ABR) testing before 1 month of age. Recommendations for follow-up of infants with laboratory evidence of congenital Zika virus infection depend on whether abnormalities consistent with congenital Zika syndrome are present. Infants with abnormalities consistent with congenital Zika syndrome should have a coordinated evaluation by multiple specialists within the first month of life; additional evaluations will be needed within the first year of life, including assessments of vision, hearing, feeding, growth, and neurodevelopmental and endocrine function. Families and caregivers will also need ongoing psychosocial support and assistance with coordination of care. Infants with laboratory evidence of congenital Zika virus infection without apparent abnormalities should have ongoing developmental monitoring and screening by the primary care provider; repeat hearing testing is recommended. This guidance will be updated when additional information becomes available.
Read the full MMWR>>

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed today, through laboratory tests, the first case of Ebola to be diagnosed in the United States in a person who had traveled to Dallas, Texas from West Africa.

The majority of febrile patients in ambulatory settings do not have Ebola Virus Disease (Ebola), and the risk posed by Ebola patients with early, limited symptoms is lower than that from a patient hospitalized with severe disease

Lassa Fever Confirmed in Death of U.S. Traveler Returning from Liberia
Risk to others considered extremely low
May 26, 2015
The CDC and the New Jersey Department of Health have confirmed a death from Lassa fever which was diagnosed earlier today in a person returning to the United States from Liberia. The patient traveled from Liberia to Morocco to JFK International Airport on May 17th. The patient did not have a fever on departure from Liberia, did not report symptoms such as diarrhea, vomiting, or bleeding during the flight, and his temperature was taken on arrival in the U.S. and he did not have a fever at that time. On May 18th, the patient went to a hospital in New Jersey with symptoms of a sore throat, fever and tiredness. According to the hospital, he was asked on the 18th about his travel history and he did not indicate travel to West Africa. The patient was sent home the same day and on May 21st returned to the hospital when symptoms worsened. The patient was transferred to a treatment center prepared to treat viral hemorrhagic fevers. Samples submitted to CDC tested positive for Lassa fever early this morning. Tests for Ebola and other viral hemorrhagic fevers were negative. The patient was in appropriate isolation when he died there this evening.
Lassa fever is a viral disease common in West Africa but rarely seen in the United States. There has never been person-to-person transmission of Lassa fever documented in the United States. The New Jersey case is the sixth known occurrence of Lassa fever in travelers returning to the United States since 1969, not including convalescent patients. The last case was reported in Minnesota in 2014. Although Lassa fever can produce hemorrhagic symptoms in infected people, the disease is different from Ebola, which is responsible for the current outbreak in West Africa. In general, Lassa fever is less likely to be fatal than Ebola (approximately 1% case fatality rate for Lassa vs approximately 70% case fatality rate for Ebola without treatment) and less likely to be spread from person to person. However, some Lassa patients develop severe disease, as the patient in New Jersey did.
In West Africa, Lassa virus is carried by rodents and transmitted to humans through contact with urine or droppings of infected rodents. In rare cases it can be transmitted from person to person through direct contact with a sick person’s blood or bodily fluids, through mucous membrane, or through sexual contact. The virus is not transmitted through casual contact, and patients are not believed to be infectious before the onset of symptoms. About 100,000 to 300,000 cases of Lassa fever, and 5,000 deaths related to Lassa fever, occur in West Africa each year.
CDC is working with public health officials to generate a list of people who had contact with the patient. Those identified as close contacts of the patient will be monitored for 21 days to see if symptoms occur.
Updates will be provided as the investigation continues.
For additional information about Lassa fever see the CDC website at http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/lassa.

February 5, 2016 - Zika virus is a mosquito-borne flavivirus primarily transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes (1,2). Infection with Zika virus is asymptomatic in an estimated 80% of cases (2,3), and when Zika virus does cause illness, symptoms are generally mild and self-limited. Recent evidence suggests a possible association between maternal Zika virus infection and adverse fetal outcomes, such as congenital microcephaly (4,5), as well as a possible association with Guillain-Barré syndrome.

February 26, 2016 - In response to a request from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on February 26 issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for a diagnostic tool for Zika virus that will be distributed to qualified laboratories and, in the United States, those that are certified to perform high-complexity tests.

CDC has issued interim guidance and additional resources for U.S. healthcare providers to safely care for survivors of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).&#160;The guidance includes information about sequelae, or complications, of EVD as well as data on Ebola virus persistence in EVD survivors, and infection prevention and control recommendations for U.S. healthcare providers when evaluating a patient who is an EVD survivor.

March 25, 2016 - CDC has updated its interim guidelines for U.S. health care providers caring for infants born to mothers who traveled to or resided in areas with Zika virus transmission during pregnancy and expanded guidelines to include infants and children with possible acute Zika virus disease.

April 14, 2016 - Scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have concluded, after careful review of existing evidence, that Zika virus is a cause of microcephaly and other severe fetal brain defects.

February 19, 2016 - CDC has updated its interim guidelines for U.S. health care providers caring for infants born to mothers who traveled to or resided in areas with Zika virus transmission during pregnancy and expanded guidelines to include infants and children with possible acute Zika virus disease.

CDC Guidance for Travel and Testing of Pregnant Women and Women of Reproductive Age for Zika Virus Infection Related to the Investigation for Local Mosquito-borne Zika Virus Transmission in Brownsville, Cameron County, Texas
Summary
On November 28, 2016

Of the 250 pregnant women who had confirmed Zika infection in 2016, 24 – or about 1 in 10 of them – had a fetus or baby with Zika-related birth defects, according to a new Vital Signs report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This report is the first to provide the analysis of a subgroup of pregnant women in the U.S. with clear, confirmed test results of Zika virus infection.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention outlines a plan to ensure a continuous yellow fever vaccine supply in the United States following the anticipated depletion of the U.S.-licensed YF-VAX® yellow fever vaccine in mid-2017, according to a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report published April 28, 2017.

CDC invites you to join in a FREE upcoming webinar hosted in collaboration with the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) as part of the joint Outbreak Response Training Program (ORTP).

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
has issued a safety communication warning about the use of Magellan
Diagnostics’ LeadCare® analyzers (LeadCare, LeadCare II, LeadCare Ultra and
LeadCare Plus) with venous blood samples because they might result in falsely
low test results. FDA is now advising that Magellan Diagnostics’ LeadCare®
analyzers should no longer be used with venous blood samples. The safety alert
does not apply to capillary blood lead test results collected by fingerstick or
heelstick. The purpose of this Health Advisory is to notify state and local
health departments, healthcare providers, and laboratories about CDC’s
re-testing guidance in light of the safety alert.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today issuedupdated interim clinical guidance for health care providers caring for infants born to mothers with possible Zika virus infection during pregnancy.